Announced at the Geneva International Motor Show, CarPlay is the next evolution of Apple’s iOS in the Car, which connected iPhones to car stereos via the now obsolete docking connector that featured on iPhones and iPods up until the release of the iPhone 5 with the newer, smaller Lightning Connector.

What is it?

CarPlay is a more advanced way to connect an iPhone to a car’s entertainment and information systems, allowing access to a variety of the smartphone’s functions including music, messaging and navigation.

How does it work?

Like existing cars with iPod or iPhone connections, cars fitted with the new Apple CarPlay will connect to iPhones using the Lightning Connector, pulling data and information directly from the iPhone and charging it in the process.

The iPhone can be controlled via voice, or through the car’s native touchscreen interface mounted in the dashboard or with traditional buttons including those mounted on the steering wheel.

Will it let me do more than play music?

CarPlay will allow music and music apps like Spotify to be played through a car's stereo.

CarPlay goes far beyond previous in-car iPhone connections including an “eyes-free” interface through Apple’s voice assistant, Siri, accessed by a touch of the voice control button mounted on the steering wheel.

Like most other in-car connections, CarPlay will allow drivers to access the music and radio content through the car’s stereo, including iTunes Radio, Spotify and other third-party music applications. Tracks can be found manually, or via a spoken request for a track or artist to Siri.

Using Siri, drivers will also be able to access messages and have them read aloud, reply via voice, access their contacts on the iPhone and make calls, as well as a variety of other voice commands including music controls.

What about navigation?

CarPlay also leverages Apple’s mapping service. The system will be able to use Apple Maps to anticipate destinations based on recent trips and information sifted from contacts, emails and text messages in a similar manner to Google’s Now digital assistant.

It can then provided turn-by-turn directions, displayed on the car’s dashboard screen, as well as traffic information and estimated time of arrival. Drivers can use Siri to plot routes and get directions via voice.

Apple Maps will be displayed on the car's integrated screen, pulled directly from the iPhone with voice directions via Siri.

Do I need a special car?

CarPlay requires special, bespoke equipment supporting Apple’s iPhone to be fitted into cars, which means that car manufacturers will have to build it in at the factory.

Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo all announced that CarPlay would be fitted to certain new cars this week in Geneva, but many other manufacturers also announced support would be coming for Apple’s new iPhone connectivity system in the near future.

BMW, Ford, General Motors (Vauxhall in the UK), Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar, Land Rover, Kia, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugeot, Citroën, Subaru, Suzuki and Toyota all announced that they are working on integrating Apple’s CarPlay down the road.

When will it be available?

CarPlay will be available in a small select number of vehicles from Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo starting this year, with more adding compatibility with the system at a later date as car models get updated.

What will it work with?

As CarPlay uses the Lightning Connector, it will require an iPhone 5, iPhone 5S or iPhone 5C to work, meaning that the iPhone 4S or earlier cannot be used with the new in-car system. Compatibility for the CarPlay system will be made available via an iOS 7 software update at a later date.

What are the alternatives?

Apple is by no means the only company working on this kind of smartphone integration into the car.

Google launched its own purpose-built Android-based car system initiative earlier this year called the Open Automotive Alliance (OAA), which includes Audi, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai and Nvidia, manufacturer of the Tegra 4 processor that powers several Android tablets and smartphones.

The OAA aims to develop systems that enable developers to easily add car-specific modes to their apps to “bring the best of Android into the automobile in a safe and seamless way”

Microsoft also has a system called Microsoft Sync to connect smartphones to in-car entertainment and the dashboard. It employs limited voice control functionality, but can pull contacts and other data from a smartphone to manage calls and messages. It is currently available in a range of cars, including many of Ford’s current vehicles like the Fiesta and Focus.

What does this mean for car technology?

Car technology, especially entertainment and information systems, are almost always out of date before they hit the road. That is primarily because the technology they are built on has to be rigorously tested and stand the test of time, and therefore does not change quite as rapidly as mobile devices.

As devices like mobile phones and tablets improve in leaps and bounds, they leave in-car technology behind, making it look and feel outdated in a matter of years, if not months. By centring a car’s information systems around a smartphone, like the iPhone, it unlocks the possibility of updating how the system feels and behaves much more rapidly than a standard fixed in-car system.

Apple’s move shows that the company is aggressively going after the car as the next extension of the iPhone, having identified it as yet another way to lock users into Apple’s ecosystem.

The more extensions of the iPhone Apple can add to a user’s life, the harder it will be to move away from Apple’s iPhone and its software and music ecosystem, adding yet more inertia against switching to competing platforms like Google’s Android or Microsoft’s Windows Phone.

Apple has also identified the car as an area of growth into which it can push its Apple Maps app and data service, competing with both Google and Nokia’s Here maps for users, data and potentially advertising revenue.

By announcing that CarPlay will be available in vehicles from a myriad of car manufacturers this year, Apple has dealt the competition from OAA and Microsoft a heavy first-mover advantage blow. Google and Microsoft’s response to Apple’s CarPlay will be interesting.